Today Justin Woulard and I went to Pensacola to meet with a couple church planters in the Reproducing Churches Network. In late January I drove over to New Orleans to a gathering of the RCN guys, including Jason Dukes and Billy Mitchell. That same day they were in New Orleans, Jason and Billy also spent time in Tallahassee, Florida with these guys. Anyway, Justin (right) and I met with James Ross (middle) and John Wise (left) at the Drowsy Poet Coffee Company near Pensacola Christian College. James and John are solid guys- James is the lead pastor of Mosaic Crestview and John is anticipating a move to the Birmingham area to help plant a church. We had a great time swapping stories and praying for one another. Praise God for encouragement from other missionaries.
Drowsy poet would be DPCC…any connection???
“Perhaps the contrast between spiritual and human reality can be made most clear in the following observation: within the spiritual community there is never, nor in any way, any “immediate” of one to another, whereas human community expresses a profound, elemental, human desire for community, for immediate contact with other human souls, just as in the flesh there is the urge for physical merger with other flesh. Such desire of the human soul seeks a complete fusion of I and Thou, whether this occur in the union of love or, what after all is the same thing, in the forcing of another person into one’s sphere of power and influence. Here is where the humanly strong person is in his element, securing for himself the admiration, the love, or the fear of the weak. Here human ties, suggestions, and bonds are everything, and in the immediate community of souls we have reflected the distorted image of everything that is originally and solely peculiar to community mediated through Christ.
“Thus there is such a thing as human absorption. It appears in all the forms of conversion wherever the superior power of one person is consciously or unconsciously misused to influence profoundly and draw into his spell an individual or a whole community. Here one soul operates directly upon another soul. The weak have been overcome by the strong, the resistance of the weak has been broken down under the influence of another person. He has been overpowered, but not won over by the thing itself. This becomes evident as soon as the demand is made that he throw himself into the cause itself, independently of the person to whom he is bound, or possibly in opposition to this person. Here is where the humanly converted person breaks down and thus makes it evident that his conversion was effected, not by the Holy Spirit, but by a man, and therefore has no stability.”
[Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pp. 32-33]
by Joe Kennedy
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This week’s rundown: a tree, my razor, an Auburn hat, my friend fake-napping, Diet Rite, my screensaver, and a Shootsac cover. I am so ashamed of the photos I’ve been posting the last seven weeks. I can do better, so I’m going to try to get out of the house more. It’s ridiculous. Anyway, if you want to see the daily feed with larger images, check out my Posterous account.
by Joe Kennedy
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I started out last Friday with SNOWMAGEDDON! and chased it down with the best burger in the state of Mississippi. After that, things got a little slow, so I took photos of a belt buckle and pins on my camera bag. Tuesday night was special because we ate POPEYES! Wednesday morning I awoke to my neighbors’ war on pine trees (if there’s any war I can get behind, it’s this kind), and today I got my scanner. I’m planning to scan a bunch of old photos for backups. After Katrina and the whole, “LOSE EVERYTHING WHEN IT FLOODS” event, I decided I’d do this. Now I can. Anyway, if you want to see the daily feed with larger images, check out my Posterous account.
by Joe Kennedy
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The following is one church plant’s account of their experience with FaithHighway church web design. This church plant is led by very close friends of mine. When I heard their story, I pursued it personally, and I asked them to send me a detailed account of what happened. Because they consider their particular matter closed, the church and staff have asked me to remove their names from this blog post. While I would normally let that be the end of things, I recognize that other churches may be tempted to use FaithHighway’s services. Those potential customers deserve an opportunity to hear this story, so I’m publishing it with my friends’ permission.
FaithHighway has insinuated that they will take legal action against my friends, therefore I am taking this account down. Apparently it’s good to know that you’ve signed away all legal rights to a “Christian” company before you realize they’re acting in an unethical manner.
Full disclosure: While none of the business practices by FaithHighway are overtly unethical, as someone with knowledge of web design, I would not recommend their service to any church or church plants. There are easier ways to do things considerably cheaper. Yesterday I posted about ProPhoto Blogs, a WordPress theme which I use for Words Are Not Enough. ProPhoto will pay me a small sum ($7) for every person I get to sign up using my promo code. However, while I believe WordPress itself is perfect for organizations and individuals alike, I do not recommend the ProPhoto theme for a church website. ProPhoto is best for individuals or couples interested in promoting their personal thoughts and photography. There are many WordPress themes which are better suited for content-driven sites, and I encourage you to use them instead.
I’ve spoken to Greg Johnson via Twitter, and he is aware of these grievances. He denied some of the allegations on Twitter, and I invite him to address the allegations in this post personally.
by Joe Kennedy
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by Joe Kennedy
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